


looking for the right partner to dance with

by stillirise



Series: Say When [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Non-Linear Narrative
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-04
Updated: 2015-08-04
Packaged: 2018-04-13 00:24:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4500633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stillirise/pseuds/stillirise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Don't read this. This is utterly terrible. I am serious. There are such better stories out there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	looking for the right partner to dance with

 

 

 

He saw the twirling figures, lost in the music, and tried to forget the fact that he had missed his dance.

He felt so withdrawn, so disconnected.

He focused in, paying attention to the hand that was jammed forward into his, "Agent Sharon Carter."

"Carter," he perked up, "Does that have any relation-"

"To Agent Peggy Carter," the brown-eyed blonde finished forward, smiling widely, "She's my grandmother."

"Oh," he said, stunned and taken aback.  _Oh._ "She, um, she got married?"

"Yes," Sharon Carter said slowly, her smile faltering. She shook her head, her pretty blonde curls bouncing with the curls, "I-I'm sorry. I had thought you already knew that." She paused, before adding, "It was in her file."

"Of course," he said, too quickly, before swallowing the bile back down his throat, "I just... haven't read everything." Correction. He had read absolutely none of it. He didn't want to hear which of his friends had married whom. He didn't want to know which had died in the war and which had survived. He didn't want to know which had to decided to have kids and raise a family. It was all too much.

He felt someone bump into him and he stumbled slightly before regaining his footing. "Dance with me," a voice demanded, taking his hands into her smaller ones, holding him hostage, and guiding him away. "I'm so sorry to interrupt," the voice said sheepishly, "Can I borrow him?"

"Sure," Sharon Carter said, taken aback. 

Steve followed, confused and a little amused, "You know. You're manners are atrocious."

"Bite me," Agent Hunter, no, Emily said, but her voice was cheerful and blithe. "Besides, you owe me."

She let go of his hands and he round an arm around her waste after a brief second of hesitation. She looped an around a neck.

"Of course," Steve said, mock solemnly, "Never mind the fact that I've save you enough times to repay that debt over and over." He twirled her away.

"Ah," She said lightly, twirling back into his arms, "But you see, _I_ have saved _you_ just as much. So, you see, those cancel out."

He hummed noncommittally and they swayed back and forth to the music. 

He quieted, thinking back on his conversation with Agent Sharon Carter. So, Peggy was married. That was fine. He hadn't expected her to wait. He just felt lost and adrift. Who else had moved on? Who else had married? Who else had raised a family? It was all too overwhelming, and it hurt him deeply. He was that one that should've died before anyone else. He was the one who had left everyone behind. That why did it feel like the exact opposite? Why did it feel as though he had been the one left behind?

He felt Emily's warmth leave him and wondered if the song had ended.

He stared at her, waiting for her to say something, anything. He expected her to taunt or tease him about his melancholy, but she didn't.

She was still swaying, not saying a single thing. 

Her hands were so small and warm as she guided him away from the middle of the dance floor. 

He kept his eyes locked on hers. 

His hands tightened on hers, not letting go.

After a while, she tried to twirl him. 

She looked at him, trying to hide a smirk, eyes wide and innocent as if to say _I was just trying to show you how its done._  

He laughed at her gall, and let her twirl him before taking back the reigns. 

He brought her back into his arms, retaliating her in the only way he could. He let the hand on her waste loosen and nudged his fingers into her weak point.

She threw back her head and laughed, trying to twirl her her away only to teasingly to bring her back to him and torment her once again.

She let her fingers lighten and tickle his neck, so he tried to muffle his laughter, burying his face in her neck and making her stumble. 

They silently agreed to a truce after a little bit more tomfoolery and she rested her head on his neck, "Glad to have you back, Cap," she breathed the words into  his neck. 

The words were light, but at the same time they were heavy and full of double meanings. 

His grip on her tightened. He had lost so much, but it didn't detract from the fact that he had gained so much as well. He had Shield. He had the Avengers. He had people that would bleed for him, cry with him, laugh with him, and die for him. He had people that understood the legacy, the weight of being Captain America, and to remind him that they didn't care. He missed the past like he missed a a part him, but this future, this chaotic and meaningful future were sneaking there and creating new pieces, not mending the wholes that were already there, but adding more and more to fill him in a difference way.  He knew that didn't make complete sense, but he had never known how to articulate his thoughts very well before. 

"Moments like this remind me..." He continued, raw honesty in his voice, "I'm glad to back."

He felt her smile into his neck and he grinned back, a little more tethered to the present and not so lost in the past.


End file.
